-- On Pern --
It is 3:22 PM where you are.
It is afternoon of the first day of the seventh month of the eleventh turn of the 12th pass.
In Igen:
It is the sixty-first day of Summer and 118 degrees. The day dawns bright and clear. Everything is coated in sand, but no clouds linger on the horizon.
In Southern:
It is the sixty-first day of Winter and 42 degrees. The day is dreary and overcast. A chilly winter rain is falling down in soft drizzles.
In Southern Mountains:
It is the sixty-first day of Winter and 7 degrees. It's really damn cold out.

Where

Bazaar Rooftops, Igen Weyr

OOC Date

22 Jul 2017 06:00

Bazaar Rooftops

If you can find the handholds to haul your way up - and there are plenty, if you know where to look - then there is a hidden highway of tile and adobe that waits for knowing travellers to tread its path.A road best travelled by those sure of foot and able to stomach the occasional leap between buildings without falling victim to vertigo, the rooftops represent a quick and possibly convenient way of travelling about the bazaar; though don't be surprised if there's the odd shady opportunist willing to take a risk this high above what law lies below.

The view from up here is spectacular; rooftops, sun-bleached, weathered, beaten by time, spread like an uneven patchwork quilt from here to the very borders of the bazaar. Some flat, some tiled, some frequented and some abandoned - it's not unusual to find the odd potted garden, stored goods or even a precious chicken coop, locked down to protect the feathered denizens within its thread-protected casing.

The sounds of the bazaar are muffled, the scents blissfully so too, making it a potentially pleasant little getaway for those in need of a little peace and quiet to observe the skies, to travel the high walkways, or to simply soak in some of Rukbat's rays.

It is the sixty-first day of Summer and 118 degrees. The day dawns bright and clear. Everything is coated in sand, but no clouds linger on the horizon.

Timor:
Belior:

Earlier in the day, Reveka hopefully received a hastily scribbled note delivered by a midnight blue firelizard. The message was a little vague, just saying if she was up for an adventure, meet at a certain area of the camp shortly before curfew and wearing dark clothing. Signed with just a B. The girl may or may not have recognized the firelizard as belonging to Bonifas, but he was the sender. At the appointed time, he's already waited in the mentioned spot, having had his firelizards check on where the current guards are on their rounds. They should be good, if they're careful. And you know, if Reveka actually shows up for this plan.
Reveka , always up for an adventure, is just moments after Bonifas, dressed in a pair of black pants that cling to her frame and a darkly colored tunic, whether it is black or midnight blue is debatable. She's light on her feet, as dancers oft are. She slips up beside Bonifas and lends him a beautiful smile. "So, where to Bon?" She whispers, on alert for the guards. Her hair hangs wildly around her face, helping to obscure her pale skin.
The benefit of having the two winged lookouts means that Bonifas was alerted to the dancer's arrival before she actually appeared. He returns her smile and nods at the clothing choice. Definitely appropriate. His own falls closer to midnight blue than black as well. Sometimes being too dark can also stand out. As for where, he's going to point towards the roofline of the bazaar proper. "Up there, if you think you're up to it." A little grin at the challenge. He doesn't expect her to decline it, since she did answer the note. "I hear there's supposed to be a meteor shower starting in a little over an hour."
Reveka flicks her gaze towards the bazaar with a mischievous grin sliding across her lips. "That sounds amazing, shall we? Wouldn't want to have Griggs sneak up on us" The guard captain was a real stickler and could bellow like a bull herdbeast. She'll follow Bonifas when he goes, sticking close to him as they move through the darkness towards the bazaar.
"Luckily Griggs is on the opposite side of the camp right now," Bonifas has done some planning for this expedition. "If I do this," He'll show a quick hand gesture with two fingers held out. "Freeze. But let's go." He'll take the lead since he does know where the folks they should be avoiding are. There are a couple of close calls, but they do manager to slip out without being caught so far and can breathe a little easier once out of sight of the Zingari. "We're not going to want the first one. There's a pretty narrow alley that has some great handholds." And is also less traffic, so better to get up undetected.
Reveka follows behind as silently as she is able, her heart hammering against her chest at those couple of close calls. She also relaxes a bit once out of sight of the Zingari. It's fun slipping through the bazaar from the shadows, not a thing Reveka has done very much. IT's exhilarating and she can understand why people sign up to be spylings and adepts. "How far in is the alley?"
Bonifas has a light step from force of habit. Although he may be breathing easier, he's still keeping an eye out for anybody that they might need to avoid. Guards, Parhelion riders, just general sketchy folks that linger in dark alley ways of the bazaar. Lots of people. "It's not far. The fourth one on the right." Which they're just getting to now. it's a twisty little alley way. There is some refuse that they need to duck around, but eventually the spyling does bring them to a stop at a rather rough finished wall.
Reveka slips into the alleyway with Bonifas, agile in her dodging of the alley detritus. She eyes the rough finished wall with a small amount of trepidation. "We're going to climb that?" She questions, wondering if it was easier than shimmying up one of the drains. Eyes look around, adjusting to the dark and to the sounds of the bazaar.
"Yeah, how else are we going to get up to the roofs? This wall has a lot of gaps in the mortar for handholds. And it's not that tall." Only one story here! Although that probably looks intimidating for someone unfamiliar with climbing on things. "I'll stay below to catch you just in case." See, she's even got a spotter.
Reveka is used to twisting herself in knots and dancing, she's never scaled a wall with just handholds before, always there had been a drain or something of the like, and she's climbed more trees than buildings in her short life. The palms in the desert oases had always been a special favorite. Giving Bon one more look she begins to scale the wall, hair swinging along her back as she does. It's easier than it looks, and Bonifas had been right about it being riddled with good grips. She's soon on the rooftops, looking over the side with a grin.
Once Reveka's safely on the roof and grinning down, Bonifas will quickly follow up behind the girl with an ease that comes with some practice. "See? Not so bad. There's a couple other roofs that we need to jump up. Eventually we'll be up three stories, but that was the worst part." Or really, sneaking out past Zingari guards was the worst. "Try to follow after me and test each foot placement before you commit to it. Not everybody does a great job keeping up their roof. Some are a bit loose." And he's off again, going slowly to make sure the roof in front of him isn't about to betray him.
Reveka watches Bonifas climb up with fascination, he makes it look too easy. "Shells, you're like a feline…can climb anything." She jokes as he nears and passes her. She follows carefully in his footsteps, eyes occasionally looking up to admire the view of the sky, beautiful when not seen through the halo of firelight. She nearly slips on a roof tile at one point, but recovers quickly, and surprisingly, quietly.
"Just takes some practice. Although having some claws would probably make it easier," Bonifas wiggles his clawless fingers at the girl. His eyes are more on the rooftops for now. There will be time to look at the sky and admire once they're stationary. When Reveka nearly slips, the spyling holds out an arm, ready to catch her if actually needed or just for her to help reclaim her balance. "That tile was sneaky."
Reveka giggles at Bon's finger wiggling and more than happily takes his support when needed. "Aye, it was." She smiles brightly at Bon and lets go of his arm. "Thanks for that!" She nods forward and looks back at Bonifas. "Shall we then? I promise not to slip again." A light chuckle follows this as she scrunches her nose in amusement.
Bonifas nods and leads on. "I'll hold you to that promise." It's not much longer until he's leading them to their destination. This next rooftop is about four feet higher than the one they're currently on. "You can try and pull yourself up, or I can boost you up." Running jump could also be an option, but he's not listing that one because the previous slipping makes that seem like a poor idea. "Right over there should be a good spot."
Reveka grins. Now this is something she can do. She has to support her own weight constantly and so pulling herself up is not an issue. Smiling, she walks up to the wall and reaches up to haul herself up the shorter wall. It's easy breezy and she's soon straightening and taking in the view from the rooftops. It's stunning, really, to see the bazaar sprawled out below, bright and alive as always. "It's beautiful up here." She comments, waiting for Bon to join her.
As for Bonifas, he'll take the third option that was not visibly disclosed. He doesn't have to run very far since it's a short wall, and the boy makes the run and jump on the wall without a misstep. "It really is." He'll go and take a seat on the edge and dangling his legs over the edge, patting next to him for Reveka to come take a seat. "I think it should be starting in about five to ten minutes. We made good time."
Reveka grins and joins Bonifas on the edge, hands curling into her lap as she gazes upward. "So how did you hear about the shower?" She asks, looking over at him with a quirked brow. "Not like we've had too many starcrafters run away to become Zingari." She chuckles and looks down, hair falling in a cascade over the shoulder opposite to Bonifas, leaving a dark curtain behind the pale olive of her skin.
Bonifas laughs in agreement with the idea not a lot of Zingari starcrafters. "Nah, not running away to join us. But the last performance we had, there were some Sirrocco riders and apparently they work with the starcrafters often enough that they had heard about it and were making plans." He shrugs. It was part of his job that night to be listening and listen he did. Now the boy is taking a moment to fully appreciate the night sky before him. "If I weren't Zingari, being a starcrafter would probably have been cool."
Reveka looks at Bonifas, quizzically. "I bet, why didn't you look into joining the craft when Willimina opened us up for apprenticeships during the blight? A fair few of us went into the crafting world that turn." Not Reveka, she has always, and will always love the freedom that comes with being a trader, and a Zingari. It's refreshing. "My papa used to say that our history is written in the stars, and all we have to do is but look to discover it." She smiles. "I always thought it poetic, since we use the stars to guide our way."
"Well, by the time I was of an age to join a craft, I already was Zingari," Bonifas points out. Like Reveka, the boy was born to the mother clan. "For someone who has the caravans in their blood, can you imagine leaving?" Even if the Zingari do stay at Igen more often since they're bound to it. They still go out on the road. "If I was a starcrafter I'd probably think running away to join the Zingari would be pretty cool."
Reveka thinks on that a moment, "No, I don't believe I could leave, but, you don't stop being Zingari if you move on to other things. We all still love S'ayde as one of us, even though he's beholden to one of those great beasties at the weyr. It's in our blood, our veins, our very being. We've roamed the continent for over four hundred turns." Reveka is a bit of a fan of their history, she listens to all the old storyweavers and matriarchs have to say, their past being as fascinating as the performances their people put on.
Bonifas nods along with Reveka. "Yeah. But when was the last time S'ayde spent a night in a wagon on the road? You can still be Zingari, but a lot of the parts just aren't the same once you leave." He shrugs. Zingari and the caravans are home and it's hard to imagine any other home. "Also, it'd be so weird sleeping in some apprentice dorms every night? Plus, I like what I do. Had you ever thought of anything else?"
Reveka shakes her head and laughs. "No, not really ever. I like what I do too." Bon is right, the caravan is home. She couldn't imagine doing anything else, being anywhere else. "It's interesting to think about though, isn't it?" Reveka shrugs and leans back on her arms, eye flicking upward at the starlit sky, Timor and Belior just visible above the horizons. It's a beautiful night, one she's glad to be enjoying.
And it's right about the point that the first of those meteors make their appearance which has Bonifas sitting up straighter and nudging at reveka as he points out in case she might miss it. "It is interesting to think about. And good that Willimina will allow it for anyone who DOES decide that it's for them." Because some do.
Reveka spots it, letting out a soft sigh of awe before she just lays flat on her back, easier not to get a crick in one's neck that way. "It is good. Not everyone enjoys our life, though I certainly never understood why." Sure it's got it's ups and downs, bright days and dark, but it is all Reveka and Bon have ever known, and it's good to have a sense of belonging. "It's beautiful, thanks for bringing me out her Bon." Reveka sends a quick smile to Bonifas before her gaze is back upward, not wanting to miss anything.
Bonifas will also lay down, propping his head up on his hands. "It takes all kinds. If everybody was traders, we wouldn't have anything to trade. Or eat aside from caprines and avians." So yeah, he appreciates that there are some folks that do other things while still loving the life he has. "Thanks for coming out. Company makes it nicer." And he'll be quiet for a bit to just watch and appreciate the show. It's not a particularly big event, but definitely something unique and worth the trek out.
Reveka is comfortable in that quiet, eyes appreciating the view and the show. After it seems the shower has slowed, she tips her head to the side to watch Bonifas for a moment. She can certainly appreciate that view too. "I have my tests next seven." She says finally. "I'm nervous. When are yours?" For performing, that is, he's got a ways to go before graduating to spy adept. The youngest one ever known is the traitor that travels with them, this Reveka knows from listening to the gossip chain.
Bonifas turns his head to respond to Reveka. "Really? That's great. I still have a couple months to go. Juggling I could probably do now… but still have some flips I've been practicing." Because not breaking your neck is a really important life skill, especially for an acrobat. "But I'm sure you'll do fantastic." His voice is all confidence. He's seen some of the knots she twists into.
Reveka grins. "I hope so. A couple of months, really?" She hadn't figured it would be that far off for the lad. "You'll do great too, when they come up." It's a balmy night, one that Reveka could stay out in forever. She wonders briefly if this is all the Zingari lad had planned for the night. Though it's fine if it is, she's had fun thus far.
Bonifas shrugs, as much as one can shrug while laying down with hands behind your own head. "I mean, if I pushed for it, I could probably take them early. But I've also got other things to study as well." Being both performer and spyling, that's a lot of lessons. There was only so far the boy had planned. Most of it had been focused on the parts he knew and could plan for. Getting past guards, getting up here. And the whole getting back. The middle part aside from watching the meteors, he had nothing planned.
Sitting out and enjoying each other's company is good too and Reveka doesn't really expect much more. She tucks her hair behind her ear and stares upward, catching a straggling streak across the sky. "Indeed you do, I sometimes forget that some of us have double the workload." Reveka returns her gaze to Bonifas and smiles. "Do you enjoy that, too?"
"I've always been good at juggling," Bonifas will admit with a grin, considering juggling schedules and commitments is completely a different thing than literal juggling. "I do. I like being busy. And performing gives convenient cover sometimes." Because if he didn't have a performance skill, it'd be harder to try to claim to be something besides a spy whenever it's needed.
Reveka nods. "I could not be that busy, I need time for quiet and centering and connecting with myself." She's an avid practitioner in a series of stretches that very closely resemble yoga, and then she also takes the self defense courses offered to and expected of all, this too lends to the need for centering. "If I didn't have time for meditation I'd literally fall to pieces." As to performing being a cover, well…"I suppose it is, a good cover that is."
"Honestly, I don't know what to do with myself when we don't have a lot going on. Like when we were just waiting," Oh those anxious days not too far past when they were just waiting until the next move could be made to get Willa back, Bonifas remembers that all too well. But he quickly shakes off that depressing topic, causing his hair to fall into his eyes, which he pushes back. "I mean, we still find some time to be alone. Or with others." Like this moment on this roof where he's not supposed to officially be.
"You could always come meditate with me." Reveka smiles and winks, leaving a bit of double meaning to her words. at his last, reveka nods. "Of course, it just doesn't seem like you have much. Though I'm flattered you would like spending some of that off time with me, it's been fun."
There's a flash of thinking as Bonifas tries to figure out if the girl just implied what he thinks she implied, but it's only a second before she continues on and the reminder that there isn't much time, which has him groaning and sitting up. "Yes, and as much fun as this has been, I have to wake up before dawn tomorrow. I'll keep my ears peeled for any more possible adventures and let you know?" Apparently Reveka's going to be his new favorite partner in mischief.
Reveka had totally meant what he thinks she meant. "Alright then." SHe s ays of leaving and stands, brushing herself off. She wrinkles her nose at the mention of being up before dawn. "Sounds great, and I'll do the same." Reveka is just fine with gaining the title 'partner in mischief', she's enjoyed it thus far.
And so, that settled, Bonifas is going to start leading them back the way they came. Getting down might be a little more difficult than getting up, but he'll go first to offer help if needed. And his pair of firelizards are sent ahead to scout and make sure the guards are all still where he thinks they should be. If any emergency came up, it might have altered the rounds.
Lucky for them the guards are right where they should be and it's not long until there's an opening to sneak in through. Once safe amongst the shadows, Reveka pulls Bonifas into a hug, smiling bright when she releases him. "Thank you again, this was a good night and that shower was beautiful." Chewing on her lower lip, she looks around semi-nervously and laughs. "My wagon is just over yonder, I should probably get back in before pa notices I'm missing."
So everything actually went according to plan? AMAZING! Once inside the camp and past the guards, Bonifas does relax a little and returns Reveka's hug. "It was a good night. And I'm glad you came with me. We'll have you scaling walls like a pro in no time if we keep this up." He'll give a wink to the girl. "And yeah, I should probably try to sneak back into my wagon as well." Since he's in with a bunch of other youths, no parents around, claiming that he just went to take a piss should probably be enough of an excuse. Probably.
Reveka nods. "Let's hope so, I felt so awkward climbing that wall. Alright then, well, goodnight Bon." Reveka grins and waits for Bon's reply before she slips into the shadows and back into her wagon. Where hopefully, she'll still find her family asleep. There's a bonus to having her cot so near the wagon door.
"Goodnight, Rev." Bonifas might end up kicking himself for not saying more at that moment later, but well, morning does come early and so with a nod, he'll be slipping back to his own bed and getting what little hours of sleep that he can claim before morning duties wake him up again.